Don’t you hate it when you think you’ve got a sure thing, only to realize that the people who matter don’t agree? Yeah, got my very first rejection in this wonderful world of publishing. I know, I know, get used to it. It’ll happen again and again. But this is a first for me — even you, oh seasoned author, had your “first rejection” experience, so please allow me to wallow for just a moment.

I think that since I received the rejection last week, I’ve undergone a condensed version of the seven stages of grief — only I may have only experienced three of those levels: shock/denial, anger, and reconstruction. Maybe I’m just too high on myself, but I’m not going to grace this situation with acceptance. I still don’t get it. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to walk around all upset. And I won’t let it stop me from writing and dreaming big.

There are positives to be had, too. I still think it’s a good little story and I have the rights back, so I can use it for the Literotica Halloween story contest. Additionally, since my word count was limited by the parameters of the contest (short story contest which I’m not going to link out of momentary bitterness!), it really forced me to consider every single word that I chose. I’ve already seen this care for detail (or the limiting of detail) in the new things I’ve started to write and edit. We’re not at Hemingway levels of sparsity here (there will always be room for metaphor), but the prose feels tighter than ever. So that’s good.

Ellora’s Cave has begun accepting submissions for their Erotica for Men’s line (read their blog post at Redlines and Deadlines), and I already have a kick ass story for them percolating somewhere between the back and front of my mind. I’m on the last scene of my sequel to Little Miss Communication, for those of you holding your breath, and I’m pretty excited about how it’s shaped up. And I still have two completed stories that need to be edited, polished, and posted (yes, I’ve been saying this forever, but I swear, they exist).

Point is, I’ve already moved on. Oh, you’re still thinking about that rejection? Come on, dude, get used to it. It’ll happen again and again.